Indian police late Wednesday accused West Indian cricketer Marlon Samuels of leaking team information to an illegal bookmaker during the recent one-day series in India. Amitesh Kumar, deputy police commissioner in central Nagpur city, said his force had tapped conversations between Samuels and a bookmaker identified as Mukesh Kochar on January 20 and 21. Kumar said the conversations took place as Nagpur hosted the first one-day international between India and the West Indies which the hosts won by 14 runs on January 21. "We have recorded information that Samuels leaked important team information to Kochar from his hotel room in five telephone calls on January 20 and 21," Kumar told reporters. "Kochar is a known associate of underworld figure Dawood Ibrahim. "The Nagpur police have informed both the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the International Cricket Council (ICC) of the matter." "We also do not have evidence if any financial commitment was made. All I will say is the link between the player and the bookie is a violation of the ICC Code of Conduct for players." BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah, however, told AFP the board had not received any information from the Nagpur police. "I don't know where this has come from, we have no information about it," said Shah. Samuels, who made his international debut in 2000, could not be immediately contacted for comment. Cricket was embroiled in a match-fixing scandal in 2000 when New Delhi police tapped conversations between former South African captain Hansie Cronje and an illegal Indian bookmaker during a Test and one-day series in India. Cronje later accepted he was in touch with bookmakers and was banned from the game for life by South African authorities. The match-fixing scandal also saw two other captains, Mohammad Azharuddin of India and Salim Malik of Pakistan, being banned for life. Officer Kumar said Samuels spoke to Kochar from his room number 206 at Nagpur's Pride Hotel where both the Indian and West Indian teams were staying. Kumar added that he believed no other player from either side was in touch with Kochar, but declined to say why Samuels' phone had been tapped. "It would not be proper at this juncture to disclose why the phone was tapped," said Kumar. Police do not have the authority to charge Samuels, and Kumar said it was up to the ICC or the BCCI to take further action. "It was our job to investigate and bring the matter to the notice of the BCCI and the ICC," he said. In the Nagpur match, off-spinner Samuels gave away 53 runs from 10 unsuccessful overs as India piled up 338-3 after being asked to bat by West Indian captain Brian Lara in good batting conditions. The West Indies replied with 324-8, Samuels scoring 40 off 60 balls before being bowled by left-arm seamer Zaheer Khan. Jamaican Samuels, 26, has played 23 Tests and 83 one-dayers since his international debut. The Samuels incident comes a month before cricket's showpiece event, the World Cup, begins in the Caribbean on March 13. Reprinted from Caribbean Net News caribbeannetnews.com